XA40 - How can manual levels be set on the 3.5mm input?

[danielrosehill]

Hi folks,

After a few very enjoyable years using the Vixia HF R800 I finally upgraded to prosumer camcorder world and opted for the XA40.

Most of my microphones are currently 3.5mm rather than XLR. So although I'll update those in time too for now I need to focus on getting good audio with what I have.

I'm having trouble finding anywhere in the menu a setting for manually configuring levels/gain when the 3.5mm (channel 3) is connected as an audio input source.

Can anybody connect me to where it can be found? By default, one of my shotguns has a hiss when connected and I know that it can be removed by setting the gain a little lower - something which is easy to do on the Vixia.

Thank you!

[rs-eos]

Can you use channels 1 or 2 with their setting to Line? I'm assuming that would allow for line input via the 3.5mm jack and then you should be able to use the the various controls.  See pages 73 through 80 of the User Manual.

[danielrosehill]

Yes, my first thought was to do just that: set channel 1 to line in rather than mic / mic + 48V and the setting beneath it to 'M' ('manual' presumably) which I assumed shifted channel 1 to the 3.5mm intake and not an XLR jack. I'm still not confident that changing the gain trim is actually affecting the levels, however. But I did notice that there was 8 pages of detailed audio documentation in the manual so perhaps with some scrutiny of those the answer will become apparent!

[danielrosehill · Accepted solution]

So ... I've figured it out. The XA40 has the same automatic/manual levels toggle as the Vixia does (unsurprising of course!) and these can be indeed be configured on 3.5mm inputs. You just click into 'Fn' on the home screen, set the level from automatic to manual ('a' to 'm') and then you can dial up and down accordingly. Like the Vixia HF R800, it seems that every external mic in my arsenal needs a slightly different level and the only way to really nail it is to throw on some monitoring headphones and listen carefully. A hardware control would be nice. But once I have a way to set it somehow, I'm set.